Turning 27 - Who Said Being Older Was Wiser??!!

To mark my birthday, we decided to do something different (since we jumped off the Auckland Skytower for Kate's)!

We began the day going to Manly beach (definitely a first being able to spend my birthday on the beach when its hot!!!)

Then we headed over to the Manly Oceanworld Aquarium, donned wetsuits and scuba gear and jumped into the shark tank! Yep - we went scuba diving with sharks, and rays, and giant turtles!

We began with a brief lesson on how to scuba dive and the essential signals to communicate under water. Then we entered the shark tunnel.

We crouched down in a circle while our guide pointed out where we'd be walking and a ray appeared and swam just above our heads - it was really amazing to get that close. Then one of the giant turtles swam straight for us - we'd been told to get out of their way as they usually barge straight into people. Not an easy task with an air canister on your back and extra weights on!!

Then we climbed over the walkway and entered the area where most of the sharks were swimming. We stood on the ledge and waited - there were about ten Grey Nurse Sharks there and they gradually swam closer to us. Eventually they were so close that you got a great view of their sharp teeth!! It was really amazing and it was a shame to get out of the tank (no, seriously!!!)

That evening, Kate, Suzanne, Lincoln and I went for dinner at Newtown Thai 2, our favourite Thai restaurant. The food was great and ridiculously cheap and not before long, we were heading back into Sydney to the Minus 5 Ice Bar at Circular Quay. We met up with Skinner and Gav and donned our massive fleece-lined coats, gloves and Ugg boots and entered the small bar made completely of ice!

Even the glasses were made of ice and we'd been warned not to leave them on the surface for any length of time otherwise they'd become part of the furniture! We were only allowed to stay in there for half an hour so we made our way to Jackson's bar to meet up with Luke & Rich before finishing off the night at Scary Canary's.

It was a great birthday and I would recommend swimming with sharks (I'd do it again!). Its not bad being 27! Here's to a few more crazy days!!!!!